Trouble with Trevor
by Angelauthor14
Summary: What would life be like for Neville Longbottom if his parents had not been Crucio'd? Neville is four years old; cuteness alert! Happy Birthday, Morphox! This is for you! Oneshot.


Trouble with Trevor.

"Look, Daddy! Look! I catched it!" Neville Longbottom exclaimed excitedly.

Frank Longbottom smiled at his son and was just about to reply when the sweet tones of his wife had him scrambling to his feet.

"It's caught, Nev, and that's fantastic. I certainly couldn't catch like that when I was your age." Alice turned to her husband who looked rather sheepish, "I've never seen someone 'catch up on their paperwork' while sitting outside playing catch." She scolded though her tone remained light and the smile playing about her lips told him she was not really serious.

"Nev was bored and I thought it would be good for him to have a quick run around and of course I had to sit with him, you know what you say about leaving him unsupervised…" Frank protested.

Alice laughed and settled down on the grass, scattering the many bags she was holding onto the floor around her.

"Did you have a nice time?" Frank queried, leaning over for a kiss.

"Marvellous, the sales were all on and I managed to get one of those nightdresses that I wanted, I got one of those Pewter cauldrons too, they finally got some in stock, been sold out since _February,_ can you believe that?"

Frank shook his head in amusement.

"And I got this gorgeous dress for the Potter's party. You will _love_ it!" Alice continued, encouraged by the fact that her husband seemed to be listening and not zoning out like he usually did when she wanted to discuss her latest bargain buys.

"Am I allowed a preview?" Frank asked hopefully.

"Maybe later, it depends…" Alice raised her eyebrows seductively.

Frank grinned and kissed his wife again.

"It's not as nice as Lily's though, now that is a _dress_! It totally transforms her, I mean before she was beautiful but with the dress on… she's ten times more pretty! Of course, James has enough money to clothe every witch alive in the most luxurious outfits and it wouldn't even make a dent in his Gringrotts' account. Lily can go out and buy absolutely any outfit she sees." Alice continued, sighing enviously.

Frank looked away, he wished he had the money to spoil his wife and child. He earned as much as James as an auror but the Potter's had a fortune to begin with as it was passed down the generations while the Longbottoms were relatively poor. Alice seemed to feel Frank's change of mood as she squeezed his leg and quickly continued.

"Not that I would ever want to change places with her. I have everything I need right here."

Frank pulled Alice towards him and hugged her tightly, she stayed cuddled up to his chest as she carried on.

"I found some of those lovely Cauldron cakes too, you know; the ones with chocolate inside, not the standard ones and I found that B-O-O-K that N-E-V-I-L-L-E wants for his birthday." Alice spelt it out carefully so that their infant son would not understand what they were saying. Both parents turned to watch their son fondly, he was attempting to catch a butterfly but every time his pudgy little hands came near it it flew a little bit higher up.

"Oh good, I looked for that in Flourish and Botts the other day and they said it wouldn't be in stock till this week."

"I'm gonna play 'plorers." Nev announced.

"Okay, sweetie. Don't go out of sight." Alice answered before turning to her husband in confusion. "What's 'plorers?"

Frank chuckled. "He means explorers."

Alice laughed too, "he has a good imagination, doesn't he? He likes games like that."

"I think he just likes crawling around the floor." Frank joked.

Nev was, as his father had predicted, crawling across the ground. Everything looked much bigger and more jungle-y from down there. He splashed through the puddles which were treacherous seas, through the tall grass which was ridden with snakes and provided cover for the tigers which were just waiting to pounce. He carefully dodged Alice's special flowers and growing potions ingredients which were poisonous man-eating plants and were waving their many branches and stems around dangerously. He was nearly there, he had battled long and hard and was nearly king of the jungle when….

Neville screamed and screamed as the scary monster leapt at him and proceeded to jump onto his head and along his back. It was slimy, it was huge, it was going to eat him!

Alice and Frank heard the scream and ran towards their son.

"Help! It's gonna eat me!" Nev screamed.

Alice would have laughed if Nev wasn't so terrified. The _monster_ which was going to _eat_ him was a small toad that was hopping on her son's back, confused about the sudden noise and vibrating of the ground, which was actually young Neville's back.

"It's alright, Nev. It's just a toad." Frank reassured him. Picking up the squirmy little creature and putting it into the grass, only for it to hop out again and bounce around near their feet.

Alice pulled the boy into her lap and rocked him comfortingly as he cried. Frank bent down and hugged his son as well.

"Monster gone, daddy?" Nev asked fearfully.

"It wasn't a monster, just a harmless little toad." Frank said, smiling at his son in amusement.

Nev peered over his mum's shoulder at the little creature which was still hopping around excitedly.

"Wanna hold him!" Nev decided excitedly, the little creature didn't look scary anymore, in fact, he looked like a fun playmate!

"Okay, but be careful you don't hurt him." Alice agreed, glad that her son had calmed down.

Nev grabbed the little toad eagerly, but was careful to be gentle with it's funny little legs. The toad began to kick it's protest at the hot hands cradling it and the fierce wiggling caused Nev to drop him.

"Oh! Be careful!" Alice exclaimed, rushing over to where the toad had landed to check it was not hurt.

The toad didn't seem to be any the worse for being dropped and hopped back over to Neville as if keen to repeat the experience. Nev seemed to regard it as a game as well.

Frank watched in amusement as the toad jumped up and down on Neville's feet as if begging to be picked up.

Nev laughed merrily.

"Look, Mummy! Watch this!" Nev shouted gleefully, picking the toad up and then giggling as it jumped back down again, tickling his fingers with it's webbed feet. He did it again, and again, and again… and again.

"Be careful you don't hurt him, Nev. He's only small." Alice warned though her son didn't seem to be listening.

"Please can I keep him, mummy? Please!" Nev begged, trying to keep a hold of the toad which was wriggling around and kicking it's feet, making the boy giggle.

"Well…I'm not sure, Nev. Toads are wild animals and it may not like it."

"Daddy used to have a toad when he was at Hogwarts," Nev protested, his lip trembling and his eyes filling with tears.

"That's true, Alice. The store at Diagon Alley just catches them wild anyway. Well, they do for the ones without powers." Frank agreed, he hated seeing his young son cry.

"It won't hurt him, will it?" Alice asked worriedly.

"Nah, they don't even have teeth." Frank assured her.

"Then I guess you can keep him." Alice turned to smile at little Neville. "And if you are going to keep him then he needs a name!"

"I wanna call him Trevor!" Nev exclaimed, as the toad leapt out of his hands again provoking a frantic scrimmage again.

"That's a nice name, dear." Alice answered, smiling at the young boy.

She hoped that the toad would keep Nev amused for a while, the boy seemed to tire of his toys less than an hour after having them. If only Alice knew the trouble Trevor was going to bring!


End file.
